Cougars: Who will kick for WSU? Coaches still have no idea

PULLMAN -- For whatever reason, few things draw the ire of fans -- and coaches, for that matter -- than an inconsistent kicking game.

So while the decision facing Washington State head coach Bill Doba this August isn't quite as substantial as last fall's quarterback debate, choosing Loren Langley or Romeen Abdollmohammodi could have a significant impact on the season ahead.

That's probably because Doba has admitted he doesn't have much of an idea, either. Coming into camp it seemed probable that Langley, a scholarship player and a two-year starter, would retain his job even after late-season struggles in 2005.

Until Abdollmohammodi started hitting everything, while the incumbent failed to correct whatever mistakes had been hounding him.

So midway through the first scrimmage, the walk-on started kicking ahead of Langley, a lineup that held for almost a week, when Langley's superior efforts in practice got him the job back -- for a day. In a third scrimmage the junior missed three kicks in a row while Abdollmohammodi nailed every one.

Uh, what now?

"We're going to go at least another week before we go," Doba said Sunday. "The most important job is to make field goals and extra points. And Loren's ahead in that he can punt if we need a backup punter, he does onside kicks left-footed and right-footed. So he's ahead of Romeen in that respect. And they're pretty close if you do the percentages. So we said we'll wipe the slate clean starting (Sunday). Any time there's pressure we'll chart them."

At times, it has seemed as though the coaching staff has been waiting for Langley to claim the job he has won in camp the past two years, but he seems to be spraying the ball as much as ever at times this fall.

"I think I have a little bit of an advantage in a sense because I have been out there for two years," Langley said. "It hasn't always been the best of times, but that can also be an advantage."

But if those bad experiences haven't worn off, they could do more to damage Langley's chances than to help them. As a sophomore, he missed three field goals in the Apple Cup and was pulled for the game's final extra point. After making 11 of his first 12 field goals last year, Langley missed seven of the last 11.

"That doesn't bode well either if that's still fresh in his mind," Doba said. "The other guy seems to just run out there and kick it."

Abdollmohammodi walked on in the spring, but a transcript issue forced him out of practice shortly thereafter.

Before the week-plus of spring ball and the work this August, Abdollmohammodi had kicked only for one year in high school.

Still, the Camano Island native said he wasn't too worried about his lack of experience -- putting the ball through the uprights is enough to think about.

"Coming into this fall I thought I had a chance," he said. "If I didn't think I had a chance, I wouldn't be here."

Langley, meanwhile, can only hope he hasn't lost the confidence of a coaching staff that's backed him for much of the past two seasons. And if he has, he has just a few days to earn it back.

"The most important thing is making those points," Langley said. "I hope they feel like they want me to start, but at the same time they want who's best out there on the field. And that's totally understandable, nothing against them. They want to win football games."